


not all of us (have the luxury)

by orphan_account



Category: Paladins: Champions Of The Realm (Video Game)
Genre: (a lot of it), Character Death, Fanon, Gen, Mild shipping if you squint, This is basically all fanon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-11 07:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11709258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: One by one, the Champions of the Realm fall, until there is no one left....Although, not all of the Paladins die.  Mostdodie, in a raid; others, by old age.  One of the remaining fades away to resume her duty in the Abyss, another disappears among the stars. The last walks the Realm in sorrow.Inspired bythis post.Edit 14 October 2018: I don't want to be associated with this anymore, but I don't want to delete it.  So I'm orphaning it.





	not all of us (have the luxury)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work on Ao3; apologies in advance for strange formatting.
> 
> I took some ideas from the [ paladinsheadcanons tumblr! ](https://paladinsheadcanons.tumblr.com/)
> 
> The title is a reference, because I am still extremely trash. I just took the opportunity I saw.

Willo is the first to go.

Fairies never live very long, and seeing that she was two years old and an adult when she joined, it is no shock when they find her bedridden.  That is the first sign that something is wrong; Willo is always energetic and hates staying still.

She requests to be in the meadow nearby to see all the flowers.  Fernando picks her up and Willo does not even protest; a mark of their mended friendship, or of something more sinister?

Willo fades into the flowers she is lain on.

-

 

Torvald has been getting older for a while now.  While elves have long lifespans, it is far from immortal, and Torvald’s age is dangerously high.  It does not help that he started using runic magic to supplement his body when he first started to fall ill.

Magic is hard to contain; hard to control, and runic magic is no different.  The magic explodes out of Torvald one day.  It is quick; nothing could have stopped it.  Torvald clearly knew this as well, knowing that attempts at immortality never go well.

-

They are attacked one day.  An army marches from the north and an even larger army marches from the east.  Inara holds her ground fearlessly, raising Impasse after Impasse and dropping Warder’s Fields everywhere.

“What do you fight for?” they shout, falling back for a moment.  Inara thanks the Mother for this brief respite,  knowing that she cannot fight forever.

Inara responds steadily, “I will fight to protect the sanctity of the wild; which _you_ and your kin have destroyed.”

They charge again.  Inara readies another Seismic Crash, but notices Androxus caught out of the air by a net.  He struggles to free himself, and Inara knows what she must do.  She is almost overwhelmed; she must act quickly.  Repositioning herself, Inara calls out her Ultimate Ability.

“You are not welcome here!”  Inara will do almost anything for her teammates, her friends.  The Mother’s embrace is loving as she is welcomed back to the earth.

-

Drogoz hovers, shooting Fire Spits followed with Salvos, raining destruction.  W.Y.R.M. Jets help him dodge arrows and bullets, and all seems to be going well.

That is, until he sees the tank, for that is what the man can be described as.  He knows instantly that this man is like Ash; a one-man army that must be stopped.

He charges up Dragon Punch, bellows “Behold, the dragon’s fury!” and flies.

-

Maeve lunges into the storage warehouse with Pounce; she cannot survive out there and she knows it.  She takes this chance to catch her breath.

“Inara’s gone,” someone says (Makoa, maybe?) and Maeve’s blood runs cold.  Inara and her had never been on the closest of terms; but a teammate was a teammate and a friend was a friend.  “Report on status?”

Among the panicked murmurs and shocked yells (“This is Lex, we’re fine-” “Help, Kinessa’s injured-” “No no no no please stay in there-” “Careful, they’ve breached-”) is the sickening sounds of battle.  Normally, combat is a fun and exhilarating experience, but not like this.

Maeve whirls around as she hears the sound of footsteps and yelling (“I think she went this way-” “Search the side rooms, she’s got to be in one of them-”).  She’s trapped in the room; there’s one exit and it’s swarming with soldiers.  There’s nowhere to hide, either; the only thing inside is some beach equipment.

The room bursts open and Maeve shouts a quick “Good night,” but to no avail; she’s too close to the enemies for Midnight to take effect.  Panicked, she runs to the other side of the room in an attempt to get a good angle to Pounce outside.  More of them rush down the hall and she’s flung back into the room unceremoniously; surrounded and alone.

Fernando’s desperate voice shouts in her ear (“Hang on, hang on, I’ll be right there, just hang on-”) but she knows he can’t make it out in time.

She’s shot down, but not before she takes down thirteen of them; moving like a blur.

-

Kinessa, Sha Lin, Bomb King, and Zhin are on the roof.  Kinessa and Sha Lin snipe down enemies from the best of their ability.  BK does that, albeit less so; he also protects them from incoming flanks, a duty that he shares with Zhin.

A few soldiers climb onto the roof, but they are swiftly taken care of.  Kinessa’s already injured, right cheek dripping blood and leg wrapped in a makeshift bandage.  A stray shot pierces through her eye and into her brain.  

-

Fernando runs inside, forcing his way through with his signature Charge.  Putting his shield up, he notices that it’s too late for Maeve.  He can’t bring himself to tell the others; can’t tell them of his failure.

How dare these people barge into his home, how dare these people murder his friends, those he considers family, how dare they begin to win?  Fernando screams in frustration, trapped as well by both the room and the realization.

Flames burst out of his flamethrower; fireballs explode out of it with vigor, until the weapon can take no more.  The building is already on fire, and it’s too late to control it.  The explosion is a sharp, half-recognized burst of pain, then nothing at all.

-

Bomb King knows he cannot last much longer, for normally today is the day where he would readjust loose parts, fix up some of the metal, and just perform maintenance in general.

Zhin dashes off somewhere with a glance at Bomb King to hold down the area while he’s off doing whatever he’s doing.  The king’s normally jovial tone is more muted as he talks to the remaining Champions.

He cannot defend the stairwell by himself, even if it forces the people to push themselves in two at a time, and he knows this.  He’s left a hunk of twisted, sparking metal by the end.

-

The Front Lines stand together at the front, Ash standing in her Assert Dominance until she cannot keep it up any longer; Makoa providing a shield for her as she recovers; Barik desperately setting up sentries and shields as fast as he can; Ruckus shouting with glee and anger as he Hexa Fires the opposition (Bolt bantering with him the entire time).

Seris stands behind them, weaving in and out of Shadow Travel; Mal’Damba throws gourds and shed snake skins and curses in some old, forgotten tongue.  The scream is horrifying, but not unexpected.

Makoa is pushed away from his teammates as Ash collapses, Ancient Rage healing the wounds that were fatal a moment ago.  Ash falls, despite the two Supports’ attempts.

-

Sha Lin lets out a cry of anger and goes into Planted, tears falling down his face and landing on his shaking hands.  He steadies himself, reminding himself not to ruin his aim with his grief.

He takes a sick sense of happiness in the fact that the enemy falls so quickly, arrows through their bodies.  It’s a lot better than killing in two or three shots, no matter where he hits.

He almost doesn’t notice when Bomb King is destroyed, he’s so focused.  Sha Lin backs into Withdraw and starts to pick the enemies off.

“Your sight fails you!”  Activating Heat Haze is a must; there are too many of them and only one of Sha Lin.  It doesn’t last forever, though, but he reasons that if he must go down, he will do it fighting for his friends.

-

Lex aims with a shaking fury, shoots and shoots and shoots and yells about honor and justice and the law.  His voice cracks a little on that one, because working with criminals under an organization is illegal, but so is murder.

Fortitude helps him a lot, but in the end he’s a Flank, not a Damage or a Front Line.  As he’s about to be overwhelmed, he charges one last pulse of energy in the form of his Ultimate.

“No one escapes the law!”

It clears out a good chunk of the damaged enemies, but not enough.  As he tries to slide away, he’s shot down.

-

Makoa knows the battle is lost, allows darkness to wash over him like sea waves.  He’s old; he has lived as many die, risen as many fall.

“I think it is time you return to the sea, my friend.”  Inara would say that to him when he was on the opposite side, and although she herself was terrifying, it would either be a good joke or an angry jab.

Was he hallucinating, finally insane in his old age?  Why else would he hear her voice, saying those exact words?

-

Together, they are strong.  Fernando would always say that.  Now they are separated, and twenty people spread out across the entire base cannot take out an army on their own.  Ying and Androxus have chosen to stay together and flee for safety.

Androxus has done most all he can, exhausted his magic.  The curse threatens to consume him.  He raises his revolver to shoot down the five or so enemies in front of them, only to realize that he and Ying have walked right into an ambush (well, him; Ying was behind).

“Ying, hide,” he growls, because he’ll be damned if he saves himself (the optimal solution, of course, is to have both of them survive, but that won’t happen, he’s sure of it) instead of the kind Support.

He feels wretched, cursed, inhuman in his mask and curse (although he deserves it, he supposes, and he feels a perverse satisfaction at his own suffering).

“Death awaits you all,” he shouts boldly, and when the bright green snakes its way up his arm and consumes his entire body, he isn’t surprised, doesn’t stop.  He shoots and he shoots until all the people are gone.  When the green wisps dissipate, he isn’t there anymore.

-

One moment, Pip is jumping around, turning soldiers into chickens, healing his teammates, and laughing delightedly; the next, he is on the ground.  Blood pours from numerous wounds, and it is all he can smell and taste.  He knows he’s got quite a bounty on his head as well, so no matter how innocent he pretends to be, there’s no hope.

The men start to talk about skinning him after his death; he cannot help but let out a choked cry at that, because that is _wrong_ , so _wron g_ _._  Bile rises in his throat at the thought of Brightmarsh; although Pip was no big fan of life there, it is still his hometown, and he does not want to think about what will happen to his family _(_ _what might have already happened to his famil y_ _,_ but that cannot be).

His last thoughts are pain, then nothing.

-

Ying runs and runs and runs, but not away from the fight, into it.  She cannot bear to watch anyone else die.  Illusion after illusion spins its way onto the battlefield in a burst of magic; healing wounds, creating new ones.  Ying teleports between them, trying to save as many of her teammates as possible.

She never thought she’d have to save herself.  The bullet crashes through her mirror, shattering the glass; she’s dead before she hits the ground.

-

The fire spreads and keeps spreading.  It spreads to the Enchanted Forest, and Grover feels something inside of him that he hasn’t felt for a while; rage.  Sure, he’s been angry, but never too angry, just irritated.  

This...this is different.  This is the rage he’d felt in the days where he’d swing his axes around with a bloody vengeance.  It doesn’t help that many of his teammates have fallen.  He falls into the mold of his old moves with familiarity and an unexpected sort of grace.  He burns bright like a star; actually burns even brighter as he keeps fighting to his death, a walking tornado of flame.

Not even ash is left.

-

So far, she’s been safe hiding behind shields.  Tyra throws Molotovs and shoots Nades with her Nade Launcher.  She was never a fast runner.  She retreats, flanks the enemy with Viktor.

She's cornered, now, and fear rises up in her.  She was always afraid of death and what comes afterward.

She takes a deep breath, before shouting “Give them hell!” at the top of her lungs to everyone, but especially herself.  Her Ultimate is powerful, but at the end of the day, she cannot heal herself, cannot run away.

-

Buck leaps in and out of the action, throwing nets and using Recovery when he can.  This time, he lands close to a particularly familiar body.

_Ying?_

Buck has no more time to ponder the thought, as an arrow now sprouts from his stomach.  He leaps out of the fray, taking down a few soldiers on the roof before collapsing.

He informs the rest of the Paladins of who is dead (Ying, Androxus, Tyra, and even more) with his last breath.

-

Viktor runs; that is what he’s good at doing.  He runs and runs, but to no avail;  the base has been surrounded.  So he fights, calls down Barrages, throws Grenades, fires into the enemy like he always has even during a time before he joined the Paladins.  He falls.

-

Grohk is weary.  He has channeled Vex’s power for a long, long time.  He yells “Surging with power!” but with every surge of power, there’s a surge of exhaustion.

He knows that the rest are faring the same way.  His totem, Mal’Damba’s gourd - they rejuvenate him, but it’s not enough over the tide of enemies.

-

Lian vows to herself when she is young, to never bow down, to never give up.  Even in this situation, where her friends (strange, that word feels on her tongue) have fallen and she is alone in a crowd, except this crowd is not a party or ball, but a group of soldiers trained and ready to kill.

“Kneel,” she commands.  “Kneel.  Kneel.  Kneel.”  Her voice becomes hoarse, and still she yells “Kneel,” because she knows that once she breaks the chain, she will surely die.

She says nothing as eight shots pierce her heart.  Die she does.

-

Barik weaves in and out of his matrix of shields and turrets, shooting and hoping.  Dome Shield barely keeps him alive when the barrage of missiles rain down.

He’s caught off guard and he falls down, stunned.  Mal’Damba yells something (Seris has gone off to who-knows-where) but Barik can’t hear.  All that’s ringing in his head is his family and his inventions.  He’s an easy target for the rest of the missiles.

-

Cassie’s rolling around, somehow involved in a duel with their commander.  She’s a lot fiercer than one would expect, and she’s giving the red-haired girl a hard time.

“You know, if you were born in a different place, you could have been a great asset to our army,” the commander says, shaking her head sadly.  “Alas, all your talent will go to waste.”

Cassie grits her teeth, Dodge Rolling to the side.  She charges a Disengage, shoots, then charges another, trying to keep the commander in the air.  She messes up on the third repetition, and the commander aims her gun.

She barely even notices until Zigs falls down in front of her, a slightly darker shade of red staining his feathers.  Pain tears through her heart as if she’s the one shot, because in a way, she _is_.  The part of her soul that has attached to Zigs withers and dies, and she can feel her resolve ebbing away.

She rolls forward numbly.  The commander dodges the dagger she throws, right into the path of an arrow.  Cassie finally allows herself to weep over Zigs.  Her already fragile soul shatters from her injuries and duress, and she slumps onto the tile, still cradling Zigs.

-

Mal’Damba throws snakeskins into the air, trying to stun the enemies above.  It’s not easy, and the clashing of metal on metal and the guns give him a headache.  But he prevails, because he is used to it by now.

He yells at Barik to get down, but the dwarf goes down in a different way.  Pancake curls herself around his arm in agitation.

He throws out one last stun before the pain in his body overwhelms him.  He’s been carrying this burden for a long time, the pain of being Wekono’s Chosen, and the battle doesn’t help.

-

Bolt is constantly yelling at Ruckus, telling him that he can’t last much longer, that Ruckus has to go.  “You stupid idiot,” he yells, ejecting Ruckus.

The twisted hunk of metal explodes, and for a moment, Ruckus swears that he sees the Elven king Boltanas, raising Tlonmar into the air one last time.  Then the apparition is gone, and so is Ruckus, caught in the middle of the fray.

-

Zhin knows almost everyone else is dead.  He flees until he is safe, losing his opponents, turning and doubling back on himself to confuse them.

He leans against a tree, catching his breath, when a sword enters his back.

“Tyrant,” someone snarls, but he can say nothing.

-

Evie holds Skye in her arms.  This has happened before with others, but this time, she’d only just convinced herself to stop being so guarding and become friends when _this_ happened.   _And what did that get me?_ she wonders, and she doesn’t know anymore.

“I can feel her life force ebbing away,” Seris comments.

“Like I didn’t know,” she snaps back, desperately trying to keep her last remaining friend stable.  She’d still call Seris a friend, but this is _different_ in a way that she hasn’t felt much before.  She doesn’t want to call it for what it is, because that would destroy her heart more than it has already been destroyed.

“Be sensible.  She cannot recover from this.”  These words are final, and although Evie knew the truth herself, it does not lessen the pain.

“I know,” she whispers.  Ice spreads up Skye’s body, if only to preserve her remains longer.  Evie shudders; _remains_.  That is what all the champions are now, except Jenos, Seris, and herself.

They part ways soon after that.

**Author's Note:**

> I will neither confirm or deny that my favorite ship is in this story. You interpret this how you want.
> 
> A note for future readers: this was written around the time OB56 came out, and as such does not include other characters after that.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
